A leaping maneuvre for a brachiating robot

We report on a control strategy for the “leap” problem arising from an ape´s fast brachiation when the next branch is far out of reach and the task involves a significant component of free flight as well as swing motion. In the swing phase, good regulation of velocity and angular momentum for lift-off to aim at the target bar is required. In the flight phase, control of the posture and rotation of the body is important to catch the bar. We propose a control strategy to achieve such a dynamic maneuver for a two degrees of freedom brachiating robot. Numerical simulations suggest that the proposed strategy achieves the desired leaping maneuver